New Star Wars Trilogy Announced (Rian Johnson) (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

It certainly does seem that Rian is expected to “atone”, but I think this also sets a bad precedent. He did his job; wrote a movie, directed a movie, brought it in on time and on budget and it made butt loads of cash.

Lots of people act as thought "Last Jedi" was a flop, or at least a commercial disappointment, but they're wrong.

Did it make much less money than "Force Awakens"? Yup.

Did "ESB" make much less money than "Star Wars"? Yup.

Did "Clones" make much less money than "Menace"? Yup.

The %age decline from 1 to 2 in each trilogy has been virtually identical. Disney wishes "Last Jedi" bucked that trend but it's still not a shock that it dropped the way it did.

Now E9 will bounce back and give us a total probably midway between that of "Force" and "Last Jedi" and people will give all the credit to Abrams, even though that's what the historical pattern has been!

 

[Tino]

thought "Last Jedi" was a flop, or at least a commercial disappointment,

I don’t think that’s accurate. Sure many fanboys hated it but I don’t think any thought it was a flop or a financial disappointment. That would make them even more foolish.

 

[TravisR]

Lots of people act as thought "Last Jedi" was a flop, or at least a commercial disappointment, but they're wrong.

Did it make much less money than "Force Awakens"? Yup.

Did "ESB" make much less money than "Star Wars"? Yup.

Did "Clones" make much less money than "Menace"? Yup.

The %age decline from 1 to 2 in each trilogy has been virtually identical. Disney wishes "Last Jedi" bucked that trend but it's still not a shock that it dropped the way it did.

Now E9 will bounce back and give us a total probably midway between that of "Force" and "Last Jedi" and people will give all the credit to Abrams, even though that's what the historical pattern has been!

Who cares about facts when it's become your solemn duty in life to find every way to tell your Twitter followers that The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy all suck.

 

[JimmyO]

Who cares about facts when it's become your solemn duty in life to find every way to tell your Twitter followers that The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy all suck.

Eh.

There are just as many TLJ supporters who are as rabid in defending RJ's story decisions. They may not be as vocal or passionate about it as the more 'rabid' fans, but they are there.

The whole thing about TLJ has never been about money when it comes to the rabid star wars fans - it's about the story and what was done to the characters.

For people in that camp, the movie sucked based on personal criteria, not the type of criteria that requires Excel to understand.

 

[TravisR]

Eh.

There are just as many TLJ supporters who are as rabid in defending RJ's story decisions. They may not be as vocal or passionate about it as the more 'rabid' fans, but they are there.

The whole thing about TLJ has never been about money when it comes to the rabid star wars fans - it's about the story and what was done to the characters.

For people in that camp, the movie sucked based on personal criteria, not the type of criteria that requires Excel to understand.

I understand why people didn't like The Last Jedi but I don't think that dislike requires regular You Tube videos and unending Tweets about how much they hate the movie for nearly two years.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don’t think that’s accurate. Sure many fanboys hated it but I don’t think any thought it was a flop or a financial disappointment. That would make them even more foolish.

I had a typo there, which would be more obvious if you'd quoted the whole sentence.

But I do think some people believe it was a commercial disappointment, and "common knowledge" has it veering toward flop.

The box office take is part of the reason some feel Johnson "needs to atone", isn't it?

 

[Bryan^H]

Lots of people act as thought "Last Jedi" was a flop, or at least a commercial disappointment, but they're wrong.

Did it make much less money than "Force Awakens"? Yup.

Did "ESB" make much less money than "Star Wars"? Yup.

Did "Clones" make much less money than "Menace"? Yup.

The %age decline from 1 to 2 in each trilogy has been virtually identical. Disney wishes "Last Jedi" bucked that trend but it's still not a shock that it dropped the way it did.

Now E9 will bounce back and give us a total probably midway between that of "Force" and "Last Jedi" and people will give all the credit to Abrams, even though that's what the historical pattern has been!

I think "The Last Jedi" should have made more money than "The Force Awakens"

I will give you a comparison-Avengers "Infinity War" and Star Wars "The Force Awakens" were both box office super performers. Both films had extreme hype, buzz, and were well received by audiences, and critics. So the sequels of each were designed to be even more profitable than the first.

So why did Avengers "Endgame" (A movie that had a ton of serialized baggage tied to the first film)
earn nearly a billion more dollars worldwide that the film that launched it, while "The Last Jedi" did less $$$ than TFA? I find it puzzling.

 

[George_W_K]

I understand why people didn't like The Last Jedi but I don't think that dislike requires regular You Tube videos and unending Tweets about how much they hate the movie for nearly two years.

Some had their videos receive a ton of views which earned them ad revenue so they had incentive to milk that cow dry. And others tried to jump on that band wagon.

I can say, I really disliked TLJ, but I sure didn't feel the need to do more than voice that opinion in a review thread.

 

[Tino]

I had a typo there, which would be more obvious if you'd quoted the whole sentence.

But I do think some people believe it was a commercial disappointment, and "common knowledge" has it veering toward flop.

The box office take is part of the reason some feel Johnson "needs to atone", isn't it?

I don’t think so. I think everyone acknowledges it was a tremendous hit worldwide regardless of their opinion of it.

Does anywhere here think it wasn’t??

 

[TravisR]

Some had their videos receive a ton of views which earned them ad revenue so they had incentive to milk that cow dry. And others tried to jump on that band wagon.

Most definitely but some are legitimately disturbed people.

I can say, I really disliked TLJ, but I sure didn't feel the need to do more than voice that opinion in a review thread.

That's what normal people do. It's one thing to voice your opinion when the topic comes up but it's another thing to still be shooting cell phone videos in your car ranting about the movie or harassing people who worked on TLJ or at LFL with Tweets after a couple of years.

 

[JimmyO]

I understand why people didn't like The Last Jedi but I don't think that dislike requires regular You Tube videos and unending Tweets about how much they hate the movie for nearly two years.

Oh, absolutely. Obsessive folks do get out of hand. Completely agree.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don’t think so. I think everyone acknowledges it was a tremendous hit worldwide regardless of their opinion of it.

Does anywhere here think it wasn’t??

Look up 2 posts!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I think "The Last Jedi" should have made more money than "The Force Awakens"

I will give you a comparison-Avengers "Infinity War" and Star Wars "The Force Awakens" were both box office super performers. Both films had extreme hype, buzz, and were well received by audiences, and critics. So the sequels of each were designed to be even more profitable than the first.

So why did Avengers "Endgame" (A movie that had a ton of serialized baggage tied to the first film)
earn nearly a billion more dollars worldwide that the film that launched it, while "The Last Jedi" did less $$$ than TFA? I find it puzzling.

Comparisons of a "Star Wars" trilogy and the culmination of an 11-year, 20+ film series = apples/oranges.

"Force" was the first new "Star Wars" movie in 10 years and it launched a new trilogy. That was going to attract a whole lot more attention than the 2nd film in the trilogy, one that came out just 2 years later - and that had a spinoff movie between 1 and 2.

I gave you the historical data. 1st movie of "SW" trilogy does the biggest bucks and the 2nd shows a considerable decline before the 3rd ends up between the 2.

Would Disney have loved it if "Last Jedi" bucked that trend? Of course, but it was always highly unlikely.

Saying "but the last film in a 20+ movie series made more than its predecessor" has zero to do with this trilogy...

 

[skylark68]

I'm not a hardcore Star Wars fan or anything although I have seen all the movies theatrically during the original release outside of IV (I was only a year old). The Last Jedi was just a weak entry in the series. Snoke is built up as this mysterious powerful being in the Force Awakens and then is wiped out relatively easily, Luke is a blowhard that doesn't fit his characterization from the original trilogy (although he was pretty whiney when he was younger), and of course Leia's spacewalk and Ackbar's death. I still think it would have been much cooler to have Ackbar have committed the suicide hyper jump. I'll argue that the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were probably the worst of all the Star Wars films (although I did find the Senate and Darth Maul in TPM intriguing). I'm looking forward to IX.

 

[Tommy R]

I'll argue that the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were probably the worst of all the Star Wars films

My controversial opinion: The Phantom Menace is better than The Force Awakens. Seriously, TPM has been improving greatly in my eyes over the last few times I’ve watched it the last several years. Watched it a week ago to start my one-Star Wars-a-week plan leading up to Episode IX, and I loved it! Clones I never really liked, but maybe that one will improve too when I watch it this weekend.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

My controversial opinion: The Phantom Menace is better than The Force Awakens. Seriously, TPM has been improving greatly in my eyes over the last few times I’ve watched it the last several years. Watched it a week ago to start my one-Star Wars-a-week plan leading up to Episode IX, and I loved it! Clones I never really liked, but maybe that one will improve too when I watch it this weekend.

I liked "Menace" a fair amount in 1999 but find I enjoy it less with every new viewing.

Will watch "Force" again as a triple feature either the day I see E9 theatrically or when I get E9 on home video. I've loved "Force" every time I've watched it so far!

 

[TravisR]

I liked "Menace" a fair amount in 1999 but find I enjoy it

less with every new viewing.

I'll frequently put any Star Wars movie on and just have it on in the background or make sure that I catch a specific scene but the last time I sat down and watched The Phantom Menace from beginning to end was before The Force Awakens came out and I found it to be better than I remembered. On the other hand, I was a little disappointed in Attack Of The Clones the last time I saw it. The stuff I thought was cool was still a ton of fun but the stuff that didn't work really didn't work.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I still prefer all of the George Lucas supervised entries over the Disney ones, though I like each and every one regardless of who made it. But I think Lucas’ talents in world building and story structure were incredibly strong and the new films, as good as they are, seem less intricate and less full of intrigue than the Lucas films.

 

[SamT]

Oh now we call them Menace and Force?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Oh now we call them Menace and Force?

I did. You call 'em whatever you want...